3of3Houston Rockets coach Rudy Tomjanovich, center, is surrounded by his team as they hoist the NBA Championship Trophy overhead following the Rockets 113-101 victory over the Orlando Magic in Game 4 of the NBA Finals, Wednesday, June 14, 1995, in Houston. The win gave the Rockets their second straight NBA title, with a 4-0 sweep in the best-of-seven series. (AP Photo/Pat Sullivan)Photo: Pat Sullivan / Associated Press

The big man from the blue-collar Detroit suburb of Hamtramck has long since become a son of the South, a Texan through and through. Although drafted by the Rockets while they still called San Diego home, Rudy Tomjanovich would play 728 of his 805 career games, playoffs included, over 10 seasons in Houston. A five-time All-Star, it was his 25-point night against the Knicks, on 12-for-15 shooting, that led the Rockets to their first playoff series victory in 1975.

After retiring in 1981, he hired on immediately to become Del Harris' advance scout and, two years later, joined Bill Fitch's coaching staff. When Fitch got fired, Tomjanovich seamlessly stayed on to assist Don Chaney. There was never a question that he would.

We called him Rudy T, but he could have answered to Rudy Rocket, so entangled was his DNA with that of Houston's NBA team, which he was a part of for three-plus decades. Even more than Astros pitcher/broadcaster Larry Dierker returning to the dugout as manager or native son Gary Kubiak coming home to take the Texans' reins, Tomjanovich seemed destined to become exactly who he became, still the only coach or manager ever to lead any of the city's sports franchises to what can be defensibly described as a world championship.

Houston's coaching hits

Mike D'Antoni, whose Rockets have won almost as many games (40) at the All-Star break as last year's team won all season (41), is trying to join a select list of Houston coaches and managers who have enjoyed success relatively quickly.

ROCKETS

D'Antoni is their 11th non-interim head coach in 46 Houston seasons. He's trying to become only the third to win a playoff series in his first year.

Rudy Tomjanovich

Went 16-14 after replacing Don Chaney during the 1991-92 season, then led a 55-27 Rockets team to the Western Conference semifinals the following year before capturing back-to-back NBA titles in 1994 and 1995. His next two teams were beaten in the Western Conference semifinals and finals. He coached through the 2002-03 season before resigning after learning he had bladder cancer.

Tom Nissalke

After replacing the fired Johnny Egan, he led a 49-33 Rockets team to the Eastern Conference finals in 1976-77. But he failed to win a playoff series in either of his next two seasons before being replaced by Del Harris.

Bill Fitch

Inherited a 14-68 team from Harris in 1983-84, then went 29-53 in Ralph Sampson's rookie season before improving to 51-31 and reaching the NBA Finals with Sampson playing beside rookie Hakeem Olajuwon. But he won just one more playoff series the next two seasons before being fired and succeeded by Don Chaney.

ASTROS

A.J. Hinch is their 18th non-interim manager in 55 seasons. Beginning his third year, he led the Astros (86-76) back into the playoffs in 2015, becoming only the third to do so in his first season.

Phil Garner

Took over for Jimy Williams in 2004 with Astros 44-44 and proceeded to go 48-26, then got to within a game of the World Series before losing the NLCS. The following year, he managed the Astros into their first World Series, only to see them get swept. After a 58-73 start two seasons later, he was fired.

Hal Lanier

Replaced Bob Lillis, then went 96-66 in 1986 before losing to the Mets in the NLCS. He lasted only two more seasons before being fired.

Larry Dierker

Replaced Terry Collins in 1997 and led Astros to the playoffs three consecutive years and four times in five seasons but was able to win only two of 11 postseason games before being fired.

OILERS

Bum Phillips

Although the Oilers went 10-4 in his first season, 1975, they failed to make the playoffs and it took him three more years to advance to the postseason. But he led the 1978 and 1979 teams to the AFC Championship Game before being fired following a wild-card round loss in 1980.

Jack Pardee

He inherited a team that had gone to the playoffs three consecutive seasons under Jerry Glanville, then himself made the playoffs four years running without advancing beyond the divisional round. He got fired after a 1-9 start in 1994.

Lou Rymkus

Despite winning the inaugural AFL championship with a 10-4 team in 1960, he was fired after a 1-3-1 start the next year.

Wally Lemm

Replacing Rymkus, Lemm went 9-0 as the Oilers won their second consecutive AFL title. He left to become head coach of the St. Louis Cardinals in the NFL but returned after four seasons without making the playoffs and went 3-11 in his first full year back in Houston. He stayed on for four more seasons, twice taking the Oilers to the playoffs but losing 40-7 and 56-7 once there.

TEXANS

Bill O'Brien is their third non-interim head coach in 15 seasons. He took a 9-7 Texans team to the playoffs in his second and third seasons.

Gary Kubiak

The only native Houstonian ever to coach or manage any of the local pro franchises, he took over a 2-14 team from Dom Capers, then needed six seasons to reach the playoffs for the first time in 2011. That team and the next one, which went 12-4, both won postseason games, but he got fired after an 2-11 start in 2013.

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Something missing

But, at the outset of his Rockets coaching chapter, there was a problem. Rudy T was sorely missing one critical ingredient. He lacked a single fundamental piece of the puzzle that's required to be a successful head coach.

Ego.

He wanted no part of the hot seat, in front of the desk where the buck stopped. All he wanted to do was teach, and learn. He couldn't picture himself at press briefings where he'd have to criticize his players, or make excuses for them. Even worse would be the personnel decisions, especially making roster cuts. And dealings with all the trappings of celebrity, no thank you. Truth to tell, he liked to drink alone, and sometimes he'd drink a lot, after games. It's a cliché, but he was a shot-and-a-beer-guy through and through, without pretense and bereft of an agenda.

It was 25 years ago Saturday that Tomjanovich was asked to take charge. Following a game in which the Rockets, playing .500 ball after a season in which they'd won a franchise-record 52 games, listlessly squandered a 24-point lead against Minnesota on The Summit floor, owner Charlie Thomas, acting in concert with his general manager, Steve Patterson, fired Don Chaney. They then offered Tomjanovich the keys to the franchise, skipping over Chaney's top assistant, Carroll Dawson.

Dawson, who had been the coach at Baylor, was eminently qualified but had health issues at the time that concerned Thomas and Patterson. So the job was Tomjanovich's, assuming he agreed to accept it. When Patterson left the room to give him a moment to digest what he was hearing, Rudy T turned to Dawson and said, "Jesus Christ, C.D., I don't want to get into this. I haven't prepared myself at all (for being a head coach)."

After Dawson pointed out they might both be out of work if Rudy T didn't acquiesce, Tomjanovich swallowed hard and, when Patterson returned, told him, "I'll do it."

Getting to work

Next came the hard part - doing it. The devil would be in the most fundamental kind of details he'd never contemplated. He never had formulated a coaching "philosophy" because he hadn't seen the need. As a player, he did what he was told and utilized his God-given skills to the best of his ability. As a scout and an assistant, he dutifully answered to others' marching orders. He was also concerned about the impact this promotion would have on his wife, Sophie, and daughter, Nichole.

If the Rockets did poorly on his watch, the criticism might get nasty, and personal. The times were changing that way.

"I wasn't concerned about whether I could do the job," he wrote in his autobiography, "A Rocket at Heart," that former Houston Post Rockets beat reporter Robert Falkoff co-authored. "I didn't know, but I wasn't afraid to find out. I'd always had my ideas about basketball - any coach does - but I didn't know if they had merit."

They did. Figuring it out as he went along, Tomjanovich capably wore the interim tag for the rest the 1991-92 season, then molded the team in his image for another 11 years before a bladder-cancer diagnosis forced him to step down in 2003 after he had coached exactly 900 regular-season games plus - how's this for symmetry? - an additional 90 in the playoffs.

His tenure remains longer by a half than any of other 45 non-interim coaches to call the shots for the Rockets, the Astros, the Oilers and the Texans (Kubiak's eight Texans seasons is a distant second) and, again, his two NBA titles are two more than everybody else collectively has delivered, although Lou Rymkus and Wally Lemm deserve nods for coaching the Oilers to consecutive championships in the upstart American Football League in 1960-61.

However, Tomjanovich got off to something of a comical start. He arrived for the introductory press conference in a baggy, multi-colored warmup suit and, having gotten little sleep while he contemplated how dramatically his life was going to change and how badly he felt for Chaney, he was unshaven, unkempt and hollow-eyed. He described himself in his book as a "confused, worn-out man who looked like a wreck."

The Rockets' long-time equipment manager, David Nordstrom, concurred, observing, "Rudy, you look like (bleep). Let me get you some shaving stuff and a towel." But Nordstrom also gave him a rousing pep talk, saying, "Everyone knows how loyal you and C.D. were to Don. You guys did all you could. You've paid your dues. You worked hard for three coaches. You'll be a good coach."

By the time it came time to start coaching, he had cleaned up nicely. Resplendent in a stylish new suit, Rudy T definitely looked the part, and he pushed most of the right buttons as the Rockets defeated the 76ers 110-101 in his debut, the first of his 503 regular-season victories at the Rockets' helm. While a 124-97 trouncing followed at Utah - the first of his 397 losses - he rallied his troops and returned to The Summit to pick up a second victory 90-83 over San Antonio with dramatically improved defense.

He had loudly demanded it at the previous day's practice and the players, buying into his message, responded. That was a huge hurdle cleared.

A style all his own

Tomjanovich was adapting, but he admitted he was too manic and still hadn't figured out how or what to delegate. One of his duties under Chaney had been to monitor the 24-second clock. As it expired, he would rush the edge of the court and holler at the top of his lungs for somebody to take a shot. So, on the Rockets' first possession against the Spurs, there he stood, waving his arms in all directions and screaming, "Shoot! Shoot! Shoot!"

His vernacular was, uh, colorful, too. Early on, fans behind the bench were routinely treated to a barrage of F-bombs, which prompted him to admit, "Actually, I'm embarrassed by my behavior. I'm trying to be more calm. I want to be more calm. But I find myself wanting to get rebounds from the coach's box."

Nine days into the gig, Tomjanovich had to match wits with Don Nelson, who was about halfway through his own storied 31-year NBA coaching career and was bringing a Golden State team to town in possession of the Western Conference's best record. Rudy T joked during the morning shootaround that was going to sneak back later to watch how Nellie conducted his business, adding self-deprecatingly, "Not that it would do me any good."

Nelson was buying none of that. Asked for his opinion about Tomjanovich's coaching prospects for the long haul, he replied, "All of us thought Rudy would make a terrific head coach - if he wanted to be. I'm not sure he really did, but it looks like he's trying it out and enjoying it."

Rudy T couldn't coax or cajole the Rockets into the postseason that spring – they went 16-14 for him – but Patterson had seen enough to offer a new contract and Tomjanovich rewarded the GM by taking the team to the Western Conference semifinals a year later before losing Game 7 in overtime at Seattle.

The back-to-back championship seasons followed and, most of the time anyway, Rudy T wound up enjoying coaching, although deep into his career he'd still call accepting Patterson's initial job offer "my big mistake."

Dale Robertson is the longest-tenured sports writer at a major daily newspaper in Texas, having spent 18 years with the Houston Post (1972-90) before joining the Houston Chronicle in the fall of 1990. His primary sports duties include covering the Texans, the Houston Marathon, the Shell Houston Open PGA tournament and the U.S. Men’s Clay Court Championship, a stop on the ATP World Tour. He’s also the Chronicle’s wine columnist while writing occasionally about health issues and travel destinations.